The commercial life of Liverpool has been developing over many centuries. Originally a small fishing port it went on to become one of the great ports of the world. Now, as is the case with many large cities that developed during and after the industrial revolution, Liverpool acknowledges that some of its old industries are gone and others are changed forever. With that attitude the city is promoting itself as a city that national and international companies would want to invest in. The following are some examples of the industrial and business life of the re-developing Liverpool.

Liverpool has for many decades had automotive industry companies working in it. The Ford plant at Halewood employs a little under 1000 people and is currently used as an assembly plant for Jaguar X-Type vehicles and production of the GetRag transmission system for Fiesta, Fusion and Transit models. The biggest automotive plant in Liverpool is currently the GM plant at Ellesmere Port which was opened in June 1964 to produce the Vauxhall Viva. The plant is currently used to produce models of the Vauxhall/Opel Astra and its 5,500 employees produce around 180,000 vehicles a year.

As a major UK port, the importation of food and drink through Liverpool inevitably led to the growth of food and drink businesses in the area. Almost a speciality of Liverpool was the sugar trade from the West Indies, so it is of little surprise that The Billington Food Group, who import and trade in sugar, should be located in Liverpool. Convenient for transatlantic trade from Canada the port of Liverpool was also convenient for landing Salmon fish; subsequently in the 1880s Simpson and Roberts founded the Princes Foods Company, a name synonymous with canned fish products in the UK. The company now deals in a range of food products and with a turn-over of £750 million a year the company plays an important part in the local Liverpool economy. Another nationally well known food name is Jacobs, of Cream Cracker fame. Now part of the United Biscuits it still has a major production plant at Aintree along with the Groups Business Centre at Binns Road in the city.

Professional and financial services accounts for over 20% of the Merseyside gross domestic product. Liverpool city offers the perfect centre for these operations enabling rapid networking and development. Amongst the more well known names in these sectors with bases in Liverpool are – in accounting: Deloitte and Touche, Earnst and Young, KPMG and Price Waterhouse Coopers. In finance – Coutts and the best known insurance company in Liverpool is The Royal Liver Insurance Services. Now a multi-billion pound company it was founded in 1850 primarily to give the poor an opportunity to ensure they could afford a decent burial for their loved ones. So successful was their business that by 1911 they had built and moved into the Royal Liver building, at Pier Head, which was to become a symbol for the whole of the city attaining an iconic status to Liverpool residents. Liverpool has become a magnet for UK based call-centres with companies as large and diverse as BT, United Airways, Barclays Direct Loan Service, Norwich Union Direct and Swiss Life all being located there.

The Merseyside area is well known as the home of petro-chemical companies with ICI having a large plant across the Wirral in Cheshire. GlaxcoSmithKline is one of the larger pharmaceutical / Life Sciences companies with a base in Liverpool. Others include Novartis and ML Laboratories in nearby Warrington. In total, Life science companies employ over 4000 people in the area.

Across Merseyside nearly 2000 people are employed in the creative industries of music, film, drama. The Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts attracts students from all over the country to study in its world class facilities. The expansion in media companies wishing to use Liverpool has resulted in the city council operating a Liverpool Film Office to support and co-ordinate filming events. Liverpool is also the home of Lime pictures which produces ‘Hollyoaks” alongside other well known national TV programmes. Telecommunications and ICT companies bring in about £1 billion to the local economy every year. The continuing growth in this sector being one of the key drivers behind the regeneration of Liverpool. BT, Cable & Wireless and Marconi being amongst the companies with development centres in the area.

An industry vastly changed from what it was even 20 years ago is Liverpool’s maritime industry. Whilst it now only employs 6000 people, compared to nearly 40,000 in the early 20th century, the Port of Liverpool is the third largest port in the UK by tonnage handled and is in the top 10 of container ports in northern Europe. Whilst the days of large transatlantic liners docking at Liverpool are over, the port is still used by P&O Ferries for its routes to and from Ireland.

If you are trying to make money online, selling a niche product can provide an easy way to do so. You just need the right audience and the right product.

Step 1 – The first thing that you need is the right audience. If you already own your own blog, you likely have a target audience in mind. You know what they are interested in, and what things may fulfill their needs. Plus, you’ve build up trust so that if you recommend something, they are likely to buy it.

However, you need to be careful not to abuse this trust. Only recommend products that are high quality that you know your readers will benefit from. Otherwise, you risk alienating your readers.

But what if you don’t have a blog?

If you don’t have a blog, you have you still have a few options for making money online with niche products. You could build a small website reviewing different types of products. For example, you could review each major brand of lawnmowers. On the home page, you would put the most popular brands. Eventually, you may start making sales through your website.

Understanding What’s Popular Online To Resell

If you are going to go this method, you need to choose the right product. You need to do some research and choose the right kind of product that people will buy over the Internet.

The lawnmower example from above probably would not be something you would buy but it is a tight niche that people would be interested in.

You may want to look at more general products that have a higher interest across the general population such as electronics, books, games, and other small shippable items.

Have a look at Amazon.

You can look on Amazon to get a good idea of things to promote. They have a list of the most popular items on there at any given time.

Additionally consider Clickbank and PayDotCom for information products that are popular online.

You ever go to bed at night exhausted from trying to figure out what the deal is with Lost? You were so bent on understanding this island of confusion that you started watching DVD’s of the first season to hopefully shed some light on this nonsensical cluster of darkness. Now, all this would be OK except that you were supposed to be working on your home business. It was, however, no fault of your own that the phone rang and the subject of Lost emerged innocently in the conversation. It was then completely logical to assume that you deserved a break and one episode wouldn’t hurt. Five hours later, it really made sense to get some rest and commit deeply to “making it all happen” tomorrow. Sound familiar? How much actually “happens” tomorrow? Usually not very much.

To be successful in home business today requires action. Though some people were just born with massive action, like the kids that started their own businesses at 9 and were millionaires before they graduated high school, most of us need to develop the skills for high productivity. Here are 5 things you can do right now to make yourself more productive and help guarantee success in your chosen home business today.

1. Be crystal clear about what you want- This may sound obvious but one of the primary reasons for procrastination is lack of clarity. If we aren’t sure about what we are doing or what we need to do next, we tend to do nothing. Write down your goals!

2. Start each day with a plan – now that you’ve got some goals, you should be able to sketch out a plan of how to achieve them. Back into it like this; Start with your primary goal and then figure out which tasks you’ll need to complete over the year (or the expected duration) to reach it. Then break down tasks over the next few months… you can change this as you go but its important to have a starting point. Now list the tasks for the next week. Now from what you have planned for the week, select the tasks for tomorrow. Simple… now follow your map.

3. Use the 80/20 rule – We all know that 20% of our actions typically counts for 80% of our results. Look at your activities and decide what the top 20% of them are and then commit to doing them before all else. NEVER do lower priority tasks before the more important ones.

4. What will happen if? – Think about every task you do before you do it and ask your self that question. “What will happen if I do this today? What will happen if I don’t?” Now compare it to the goal in your head. For instance, if the answer is that you will be less confused about Lost but tomorrow you’ll have twice as much work to do, you may want to go another route. Again, the key here is to be clear what you have to do and WHY you are doing it.

5. Do what Brian Tracy calls the ABC method – Simply put, this method allows you to prioritize your tasks to ensure that you take care of the most important tasks first. Look at your list of tasks and mark an “A” next to the tasks that, if not done, will have serious consequences. If you have a few, mark them “A-1, A-2, A-3” etc. “B” tasks are important but there is significantly less of a consequence if it’s not completed; returning some email and phone calls might be “B” tasks. As a general rule, don’t do a “B” task if an “A” task is left undone. “C” tasks are things that you’d like to do, but there really is no consequence at all if don’t; like if you missed lunch with a co-worker or another exciting discussion of Lost with your friend. “D” task are tasks you can delegate and should delegate if the option is open to you. “E” tasks don’t need to be done at all. Usually they are either no longer necessary or just something you’re in the habit of doing. Let them go.

Running a home business successfully requires a lot of self discipline and action… hopefully one or more of these tips will help you with your journey to success. I wish you prompt and timely success!